Speaker: Dr. Sebastian Bertram

Company: Wessling GmbH

Title: PCR Packaging - Sustainable Use of Resources and the Resulting Challenges

Language: German

Abstract: Environmental policy issues such as climate change, CO2 neutrality, sustainability, environmental protection, waste avoidance and recycling have increasingly become the focus of public interest and politics in recent years. They are taken into account by the EU as an important part of the Green Deal.
In particular, the topic of packaging for cosmetics, its quality and the requirements for safe use has increasingly come to the fore of environmental awareness among consumers and politicians in recent years. This applies in particular to so-called PCR and PIR packaging (post-consumer recycling and post-industrial recycling packaging).

The regulatory requirements from the European cosmetic product regulation have not changed in recent years. However, since the specifications of the cosmetic product regulation were not described very precisely, the specifications for food packaging have always been used.
However, these requirements from food law, which result from the (EU) Regulation 1935/2004 for “food contact materials”, are difficult for PCR packaging to meet, so that the packaging manufacturers and ultimately also the cosmetics manufacturers are faced with a dilemma.

Because PCR packaging often comes from open circuits. The different material qualities, possible contamination through external use and residues of the products themselves pose major challenges in terms of processing, compliance with regulatory requirements and safe, non-hazardous use. A PCR packaging material is therefore like a black box, a heterogeneous mixture of different substances.

Due to public pressure to use sustainable materials, the cosmetics industry is being asked to use more PCR materials for cosmetic packaging. In order to increase the safety of PCR materials, both a risk-based chemical analysis for possible contaminants and a corresponding assessment are essential.
We provide an overview of the regulatory background, show pitfalls in the documentation of packaging, explain the risk-based approach to chemical analysis and provide solutions for an economic approach.